instant Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
    wink; blink of an eye; flash; New York minute; twinkling; jiffy; heartbeat; split second; trice.
    • if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash
  2. noun a particular point in time
    moment; second; minute.
    • the moment he arrived the party began
  3. adjective satellite occurring with no delay
    instantaneous.
    • relief was instantaneous
    • instant gratification
  4. adjective satellite in or of the present month
    inst.
    • your letter of the 10th inst
  5. adjective satellite demanding attention
    insistent; clamant; crying; exigent.
    • clamant needs
    • a crying need
    • regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous"- H.L.Mencken
    • insistent hunger
    • an instant need

WordNet

In"stant adjective
Etymology
L. instans, -antis, p. pr. of instare to stand upon, to press upon; pref. in- in, on + stare to stand: cf. F. intant. See Stand.
Definitions
  1. Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest.
    Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Rom. xii. 12.
    I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of occupation. Carlyle.
  2. Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay.
    Impending death is thine, and instant doom. Prior.
  3. Present; current.
    The instant time is always the fittest time. Fuller.
    ✍ The word in this sense is now used only in dates, to indicate the current month; as, the tenth of July instant.
In"stant adverb
Definitions
  1. Instantly. Poetic
    Instant he flew with hospitable haste. Pope.
In"stant noun
Etymology
F. instant, fr. L. instans standing by, being near, present. See Instant, a.
Definitions
  1. A point in duration; a moment; a portion of time too short to be estimated; also, any particular moment.
    There is scarce an instant between their flourishing and their not being. Hooker.
  2. A day of the present or current month; as, the sixth instant; -- an elliptical expression equivalent to the sixth of the month instant, i. e., the current month. See Instant, a., 3. Syn. -- Moment; flash; second.

Webster 1913